Robert lundell



(No Moel.)

R. LUNDELL lVELMTRIJ RAILWAY.

Patened May `19; 17896.

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@mi/meow@ AN DREW B.GRANAM PHOTOUTHD. WASHINGTUNJJ C Nirnn STATES ROBERTLUNDELL, OF BROOKLYN, yNEV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE .JOHNSON- LUNDELL.ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 560,513, dated May 19,1896. Aimplication filed December 6, 1895. Serial No. 571,217. (Nomodel.l

T0 tZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known -that I, ROBERT LUNDELL, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residin g at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of NewYork, have made a new and useful Invention in Electric Railways, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that type of electric railways in which thepropelling-current is taken from sectional trolley-conductorsautomatically connected to a main-supply conductor by the presence of amotor-car and again disconnected therefrom as the car passes on itsjourney, and is particularly directed to improvements upon an inventiondisclosed in a prior patent granted to me on the 10th day of December,1805, and numbered 551,334.

My invention has for its objects, first, the rendering of the operationof such a system absolutely safe as regards disconnecting the sectionalconductors from the main-supply conductor after a car or train haspassed, and, second, the reliability of current supply when such isrequired to propel the car or train, and particularly the certainty ofnot losing the propelling-current when running at very high speeds ineither direction upon the same track. These objects are accomplished bythe apparatus hereinafter described,the novel and essential featuresbeing particularly pointed out in the claims at the end of thisspecification.

Referring to the drawings, Figure lis a diagrammatic view illustrating asection of a sin gle-track street-railway, eight sectional trolley orservice conductors arranged in two rows parallel to a current main orsupply conductor, electromagnetic switching devices and circuitconnections between the sectional conductors, the switches, themain-supply conductor and the rails or return-conductor; also adiagrammatic View of a street-car, showing current-collecting devices,car-wheels, a motor, a battery, a switch, circuit connections from thecurrent-collecting devices to the switch, the battery, and the motor,and circuit connection from the negative end of the battery to thecar-axle or return-conductor. i Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic Viewillustrating a section of a single-track trunk-line railway equipped andoperated upon the same generic principle ,as the street-railway, butdiffering therefromvin some important details regarding the length andlocation of the sectional 55 trolley-conductors, the size and, capacityof the battery and the circuit connections appertaining thereto.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, and first to Fig. l, FWrepresents a currentfeeder or main-supply conductor and F10 F102 F103F104 branch feeders therefrom leading into switch-boxes (not shown onthe diagram) and to non-fusible fixed contact-points Z, Z2, Z4, and Z6.All of these yconductors and parts should be extremely well insulated,inasmuch as they are alive at all times. The opposite ,contact-points ZZ3 Z5 Z'7 are connected through wires 10', 103, 105, and 107 tosectional trolleyconductors Sc', S03, Sci, and Sc?, all of which areonly successively made alive when current is required to propel the car.

S02, S04, S06, and Scsare additional sectional trolley-conductors,connected by wires 102,104, 10, and 108 through low-resistancemagnetcoils to the track-rails or return-conductors R and R', thearrangement being such that the magnet-coils of adjacent switch-magnetsare interconnected by means of the circuits leading from each sectionaltrolley-conductor S02 S04, &c., to the track-rails. Theseinterconnections serve to make the sectional conductors or rails Sc',S03, S05, and S07 alive before theyare reached by the travelingcontact-shoe S, no matter in which way the car 85 be going, theimportance of which will be understood by the description of operationwhich follows.

The contact-shoes S and S2, carried by the car, are of such length thatthey will bridge the spaces between two sectional conductors or rails.The contact-shoe S is connected by means of wire 10 to the lever of aswitch S10, which when closed completes connection through wire 1011 tothe positive pole of a battery B and through wirey 1010 to motor M, asshown. The other terminal of the motor is v connected through conductor1012 to contactshoe S2, and the negative pole of the battery B isconnected through wire 1013 directly to the car-axle andreturn-conductors R and R.

The operation of the apparatus shown in IOO Fig. l is as follows:Suppose that all the electromagnetic switches are open and that themotorman is just closing the switch Sie. A current will then flow fromthe positive pole of the battery through wire iu to switch Sw, throughresistances and conductor w10, through the motor M and wire 1012 toeontactshoe S2 and hence to sectional trolley-conductor Sc, thence bywire wl through a coil around the switch-magnet M2 and also through acoil around switch-magnet M3, energizing these two magnets, and finallyto track-rails R and R', car-wheels, and negative pole of the battery.The instant this current begins to flow and before the car has had timeto start the switch-levers p2 and p2 will close connection between thebranch feeders F202 F102 and the sectional trolley-conductors Sc3 andSes, as shown in the drawings. Owing to the dominating electromotiveforce of the current feeder or main the current will now flow asfollows: From current feeder or main FWr to branch feeder F102, throughswitclbcontaets Z2 and Z2 and wire uf to sectional trolley-conductorSC3, hence to contactshoe S and through wire 709 to switch Sw, where thecurr'ent divides into two parallel circuits, one flowing through wire `wto the battery B (charging 111e same) and thence through wirew13 tocaraxle and returneonductor, the other circuit being by wire wl",through the motor M, conductor 11712, contactshoe S2, sectionalconductor Se", wire "uit, and through the coils of magnets M2 and M:3 inthe same direction as before to track-rails R R or return-conductor. Itwill thus be seen that the coils of the magnets M2 and M3 are in serieswith the motor M and that in consequence the switch-levers p2 and p3will remain closed as long` as the propelling-eurrent flows throughconductor u'f. If the ear be moving from right to left, it will beevident at a glance that the sectional conductors Sci' and S07 are madealive in advance of the contact-shoe S; but it remains to be seen ifthis holds true when running in the opposite direction. Suppose the carstarts from the position shown and moves to the right instead of to theleft. All connections will then remain undisturbed as long as thecontact-shoe S2 is still upon the sectional conductor Sci; but when theshoe S2 closes contact with sectional conductor SC2 an d finally breakscontact at Se4 the propelling-current will simply be shifted from wireywt to wire m2. This, however, energizes magnet Ml instead of magnet M2,and magnet M2 remains undisturbed, leaving the branch feeder F202 inconnection with Sci. As the shoe S' now approaches sectional conductorSc', the lever p will have closed connection between the branch feederFw" and the sectional conductor Sc', thus illustrating that the systemof interconnections between switch-magnets is adapted to work both ways.

Upon studying the diagram in Fig. l it will be understood that themaximum time allowed for each magnet to close is equal to the time thecar takes to travel the distance between the sectional conductors SC2and Sc. It will also be noted that the high-potential sectionalconductors Sc', S03, Sc, and Scl are in direct connection with thecontacts l', Z3, Z7, and I7 in the switclrboxes without any of the coilsaround the magnets being included in circuit, so that in case theinsulation of one of these sectional conductors should become impaired,the leakage-current cannot hold the magnet closed and therefore cannotkeep the conductor alive after the car has passed.

In the street-railway system just described the potential differencebetween the feeder and track-rails has been supposed to be abou t livehundred volts, The sectional conductors are placed in the road-bed withtheir upper eontactsurfaces slightly higher than the pavement and aswell insulated as practica ble from the ground. To minimize leakage inwet weather they are iliade as short as possible, and to prevent anysectional conductor from bein g alive in front or after the ear they areplaced at such distances apart that the platforms of the car will safelycover both the conductor which is doing service and the one which ismade ready for service. The battery is supposed to be of anelectromotive force amn'oxin'iating that of the line, so that it willalways be fully charged and ready to do service when called upon. It mayalso be of such capacity as to be able to propel the car for shortdistances across turnouts, crossings, switches, ibc., where the electricequipment of the road-bed would present natural difficulties. Thebattery will thus propel the car independently of the station-current byclosing the switch S u' and also another switch, (not shown in thedrawings,) which switch will close a connection between wires `w32 andirl and which may also be so arranged that it will break connectionbetween switch Suf and the contact-shoe S.

Upon examination of Fi g. 2 it will be noted that thesectionalconductors or rails are made much longer and that theconductors or rails Sc2, Sci, and Se are placed on the outside of thetraek-rails, the object of so placing being to obtain additional safetyagainst leakage from the highpotential rails Sc Sci" Sci. These railsare to be supported on good insulators, which in turn are supported onthe cross-ties. Suppose, for illustration, that the dilference ofpotential between feeder and return rails is one thousand volts and thatthe locomotive shown in diagram capable of exerting a maximum power ofone thousand horse-power 0r seven hundred and fifty kilowatts. Underthese conditions it would of course be absurd to employ a battery tomove the train. The battery in this case is there fore of a capacitysufficient to close the electromagnetic switching devices andv to keepthe same closed in case the locomotive should happen to take anunusually small current. The arrangement of circuit connections is,however, su eh that after the original closing IOO TIO

the main current operates the electromagnetic switches and at the sametime charges the battery.

The operation is as follows: Suppose the locomotive is at rest and thatall the switches are open. Upon closing the switch Sw a current willflow from the positive pole of battery B through wire w11 to switch Sw,hence by wire w12, contact-shoe S2 to sectional conductor or rail S04,by conductor wel through a coil of magnet M2, and also through a coil ofmagnet M2, and nally by track-rails, car-axle, wire w12 to the negativepole of the battery. The magnets M2 and M3 are now energized and leversp2 and p2 have established connection between the branch feeders Fw2 FwSand the sectional conductors or rails S03 S05, as shown in the drawings.The current now iiows as follows: From branch feeder Fw3 by wire ws,sectional conductor or rail S05, contact-shoe S', wire wg, through themotors M, by wire w10, through starting resistances and switch Sw, whereit divides itself, one part of the current flowing by way of wire w12 toshoe S2, sectional rail S04, wire wt, around both magnet-coils, as atthe instant before, and, iinally, to track-rails R and R back to thegenerating-station. The other part of the current tlows by wire w11through the battery B, charging the same, and by wire w13 to caraXle CNVand track-rails. To fully appreciate the automatic charge or dischargeof the battery, as the case may be, it will be necessary to illustratethe operation with a few iigures. Suppose the battery B consists of fivecells of large ampere capacity. The electromotive force of dischargewill then be about ten volts, whereas the counter electromotive force atcharging will be about 5 2.5:l2.5 volts. Assume the sum of all theresistances included in the circuit w12, contact-shoe S2, sectionalconductor or rail S04, wire w4, two electromagnetic-coils M2 M3 to thenegative pole of the battery B to be .05 ohms. Upon closing the switch,the battery will then send a current of 1%; 200 amperes through thiscircuit.

In case the current from the main-supply conductor iiowing through themotors and starting the same should happen to be two hundred amperes, nocurrent will flow through the battery, nor will any appreciable amountof current tlow through the same until the current has increased to twohundred and fifty amperes when the electromotive force at thebattery-terminals has risen to 12.5 volts; but if the motors should takeabout iive hundred amperes about half of this current will flow throughthe battery, charging the same. At the same time, if the train shouldrun down a grade and happen to take so small a current that there isdanger of not having suficient number of ampereturns around the magnetsto keep them properly energized, then the battery will at once make upthe difference between two hundred amperes and the current taken by themotors.

To illustrate the importance of the interconnections between themagnets, let us assume that the locomotive shown in Fig. 2 is movingfrom left to right at a speed of sixty miles perhour, or eighty-eightfeet per second.

As the shoe S is traveling over the sectional conductor or rail S05 andshoe S2 is leaving sectional conductor or rail S06 and commencing totravel upon conductor or rail S04, the current is shifted from wire w6to wire w4 and the magnet M2 is in condition to close itsswitching-leverp2; but when the shoe S leaves rail S05 the magnet M2must be closed and conductor or rail S03 must be alive or thepropelling-current would be broken at the end of rail S05. N ow, if themagnets are made to safely close in one-half a second, it follows thatthe distance D (see Fig. 2) must be about forty-four feet. Should thetrain move at still greater speeds, it will be necessary either toconstruct electromagnets that will operate in less than one-half secondor to make the sectional rails longer, or to increase the length of thecontact-shoes.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is-

l. In an electric railway a system of permanent or continuousinterconnections between electromagnetic switches and sectionaltrolleyconductors, the arrangement being such that each electromagneticswitch is given a certain time allowance to close before it is calledupon to transmit the propelling-current no matter which way the car ortrain be moving.

2. The combination of switchoperating electromagnets with two sets ofsectional trolley-conductors, the coils of said magnets beingpermanently in circuit between one set offsaid sectional conductors andthe ground or return conductor and when energized included in serieswith the motor; the other set of said section al conductors beingtemporarily connected to a current feeder or main directly through theswitch-contacts while a car is passing and wholly disconnected from theswitch-operating magnets after the car has passed.

3. In an electric-railway system a current feeder or main, a series ofsectional trolley-conductors, electromagnetic switches for connectingsaid sectional conductors to the current feeder or main in sequence asaJcar or vehicle moves over them in either direction, a battery and amotor carried by the car for operating the sWitch-electromagnets andpropelling the car; said electromagnets being permanently orcontinuously interconnected in series relation so as to connect up thesectional conductors to the feeder before the propellingcurrent isconnected in circuit with the motor, substantially as described.

4f. In an electric-railway system a current feeder or main, a series ofsectional trolleyconductors, electromagnetic switches for connectingsaid sectional conductors to the cur- IOO IIO

conductors, permanently or continuously intereonneetedA electromagneticswitching' devices in combination with a return conductor or raillocated between said rows of sectional trolley-conduetors7 substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed lny name this 1-th dayof December, 1895.

ROl-EERT LUNDELT..

fitnessem C. J. KIN'rNEI-z, M. M. ROBINSON.

